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Dusty #2

Dusty #2
Dusty #2

Dusty #2 | Media List


Statement

Dusty is a gifted clown and mime. When he was young, he traveled around the country on trains performing as a clown with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He eventually married one of the other circus performers, and they had seven children. When his drinking got really bad, his wife kicked him out of the house. He has been in and out of sobriety ever since. He only recently became homeless.

Even though Dusty’s life has been rough, his clown’s sense of humor has kept him alive and sane. The clown hats on the train cars symbolize the laughter that has allowed him to survive each phase of his life, and each of the train cars represents a different aspect of his life: working for Barnum & Bailey, his drinking, his deafness (caused by a blow to the ear), his seven children, and working at a radio station (where he was fired for making up news stories). The two engines pulling against each other symbolize the tensions in his life.

The final engine ramming into the abandoned house where he now lives represents his homelessness, but the dove flying out of the house is a symbol of hope. Dusty has been sober for six months and is currently looking for housing.